


the warmest part of your heart

by jjokkiri



Series: monsta x bingo (winter 2017) [35]
Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Kitsune, M/M, Monsta X Bingo, Pre-Relationship, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-13
Updated: 2017-10-13
Packaged: 2019-01-17 00:18:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12353511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjokkiri/pseuds/jjokkiri
Summary: In the middle of the night, Hoseok always finds himself waking up with Kihyun curled up in his arms and as much as he pretends that he hates it, he really cannot convince himself that he really does.





	the warmest part of your heart

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the _Supernatural_ square of [Monsta X Bingo](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/MXbingo), which definitely did end back in April or something.
> 
> Also, no one asked for the role reversal!kiho, but I asked myself for it, so please: enjoy it. I had fun with this.

Hoseok didn’t really have a problem with Kihyun, except he kind of really did. He liked to think that he didn’t have a problem with him, but there was something oddly annoying about the way he’d wake up in the middle of the night to feel a comforting heat against his body, complete with the soft glow of light from a pleasantly swishing tail. Kihyun was a cuddly sleeper and Hoseok didn’t hate it, except he liked to convince himself that he _didn’t_ like it.

Kihyun had been sleeping on the other bed, but for some odd reason, every single morning, he would end up sleeping in Hoseok’s arms. Truthfully, he couldn’t grasp how it happened. He’d fall asleep in his own bed, after Kihyun fell asleep on the other side of the room, but every single day—without fail—he would wake up with the smaller spirit in his arms, comfortably curled up like he belonged there.

From everything he knew about kitsune—including the knowledge he had about himself, despite being part of a different elemental species, a more uncommon species—they were supposed to be deceptive and full of trickery. They weren’t supposed to comfortably curling up against others sleepily and rubbing their eyes with every tiny bit of _adorable_ that Yoo Kihyun definitely was. The only thing that Hoseok could pinpoint about Kihyun being a part of the _typical_ and more well-known type of kitsune was that he was a fire spirit.

Which, easily lead to his next point of confusion: _why was Kihyun so attached to him?_ They were of the same kind, but Hoseok was a spirit of the void, unlike Kihyun’s elemental nature. He fed off pain and he hated his own power, but Kihyun seemed to adore him with everything he had, regardless of anything Hoseok told him. Kihyun could light a match and eat the flame to regain his strength; they might be of similar origin, but they were _so different._

Or so, Hoseok thought so. Kihyun didn’t seem to care. He only seemed to obsess over the fact that Hoseok was indeed a kitsune as well, and to Kihyun, it meant that needed to stick by one another’s sides, because it was almost impossible to find another of their kind when they lived in a world filled with mortals.

He supposed it made sense, but there was something about Kihyun that was so innocent— _so pure_ —and he was sure that spending time with him would only ruin it. Contrary to everything that was taught to humans about kitsune, Kihyun was bright and wanted to help out, whenever he could. Hoseok didn’t really understand the fire spirit, but secretly, he pushed Kihyun away because he never wanted to see that innocence fade away.

At one point, Hoseok had asked him to leave, but Kihyun cried and Hoseok didn’t have the heart to follow through with his demand. His heart felt itself breaking in his chest, confusing him, but urging him to step forward and _do something_ to make Kihyun stop crying. He’d taken Kihyun’s things out of his hands as he turned to walk out the door and placed them back in the apartment, wrapping his arms around him and comforted the tears away.

He couldn’t understand the soft spot he had for the fire spirit. In his hundreds of years of living alone in practical solitude, Hoseok couldn’t recall another time where he’d felt anything similar to what he felt for Kihyun. He was sure it all amounted to something unexplainable. It simply didn’t make sense to him. All his life, living in cold solitude, he’d never felt the need to protect anything (or anyone) so badly.

He felt a shift against his body.

“Good morning,” Kihyun mumbled, rubbing his eyes with his small fists. Hoseok turned his head to glance at the smaller kitsune, lips tugging into a frown. He glanced out the window, eyes meeting with plain darkness and the scarce scatter of bright stars in the sky, before exhaling.

“It isn’t even dawn, yet,” Hoseok told him. Kihyun frowned at him, disbelieving. He pushed himself up, small hands pressing against Hoseok’s chest to help himself up and the dark-haired kitsune grunted.

“Then, why are you awake?” he asked, settling back down on Hoseok’s chest when he determined that Hoseok was correct. It was barely four in the morning, but Hoseok’s alarm clock had been pushed off of his bed and into some dark corner, never to be found again—he couldn’t sleep with Kihyun so close to him, anyway; it made his heart beat too quickly for him to fall asleep.

“Sometimes, I think it was a mistake to help you that one time I saved you in the cave,” Hoseok said, ignoring the question and bitterly shifting underneath Kihyun’s weight. The fire spirit immediately pouted his lips, his dark orange locks falling into his eyes. Hoseok turned his eyes away from Kihyun.

“You don’t mean that,” he said, “That’s mean. You’re not a mean person.”

They both knew that neither of them fit into the stereotype of their individual type of kitsune. Hoseok was too kind to be a spirit of the void that was meant to not have a care for those around him. Had he been a perfect representation of his kind, then he would never have entered the cave and made a small fire for the fire spirit with a bunch of small branches; had he been that perfect representation, he would have never saved Yoo Kihyun’s life.

It’d been a year and a half since he saved Kihyun’s life, and the younger spirit was still by his side. He could hardly grasp the idea behind anyone genuinely wanting to stay by his side, much less someone as bright as Kihyun.

“I’m not a person, Kihyun,” Hoseok sighed. “And you’re not, either.”

“Okay,” Kihyun said, huffing as his tail swished around, glowing an orange shade in the absence of light. “But, we have names and we look like people, so I think we can fit into the whole _people_ spectrum.”

Hoseok rolled his eyes, staring up at the ceiling, “You have a tail.”

“Humans do that thing where they wear those fake tails,” Kihyun pointed out, tone innocent despite his obvious need to prove a point. “I see them when I go to the store, sometimes. By the way, speaking of the store, you need to buy more milk. But, about the tails—if they can have fake tails, then I can have a real tail and call myself a person!”

Hoseok inhaled, “You’re the only one who drinks the milk.”

“So, does that mean you’re going to let me starve?” Kihyun challenged, a twinkle in his eyes. Hoseok groaned, resisting the urge to retort about how he was _certain_ that it wasn’t the only thing that Kihyun fed himself with.

“I’ll go in the morning,” he replied, shrugging Kihyun off of himself and turning to wrap his arms around a pillow. Kihyun clung to his back, resting his chin in the crook of Hoseok’s neck. The smaller spirit could hardly wrap his arms around Hoseok’s much larger frame.

“This isn’t very comfortable,” he said, pouting.

“That’s the point.”

“That’s not very nice of you.”

Exhaling in frustration, Hoseok turned his body again, grudgingly allowing for Kihyun rest his head on his chest. Despite his act of annoyance, the happy sound that left Kihyun’s lips when he was able to rest against him made his heart skip a beat. There was just something about making Kihyun happy that made him feel better about himself—or, at least, that’s what he told himself.

After a moment, Kihyun wrapped his arms around the void spirit’s waist, “Hoseok...”

Hoping that Kihyun would leave him alone, the dark-haired spirit ignored him. But, Kihyun called his name again.

Hoseok cracked an eye open, looking at him. “What?”

Kihyun eyes twinkled in that way that clearly said _‘ah! I knew you weren’t asleep’_ , and if Hoseok really did hate him, then he might have smacked Kihyun across the head. But, he didn’t and he couldn’t bring himself to ever hurt the smaller spirit. _He was too cute,_ if he put it as far as he’d dare to admit.

“Why do you put up with me?” he asked, curiously.

It was barely four in the morning and Hoseok couldn’t put that much effort into giving Kihyun a proper bullshit answer. The dark-haired spirit brought a hand up to press against his temples and gave the redhead a look.

“If I tell you, will you please go back to sleep and leave me alone?”

Eyes bright, Kihyun nodded. “Mhmm!”

Hoseok sighed, turning around and wrapping his arms around Kihyun, properly. The younger man’s eyes widened in surprise, a quiet gasp leaving his lips. Hoseok’s strong arms kept Kihyun locked against him and he placed a hand at the back of Kihyun’s head, making him rest against his chest, comfortable.

“I put up with you because...” he started. Kihyun waited, anticipating the answer.

He took a breath.

“Because I’ve always been so alone and so cold,” he replied, quietly. His tone was firm, but his heart pounded in his chest as he inhaled sharply, letting himself admit what he had the most trouble trying to admit to himself, much less aloud to Kihyun. “And you’re the warmest thing I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.”

There was a silence and he could feel Kihyun’s heartbeat racing against his own chest. Hoseok held his breath.

 _“Oh—”_ Kihyun started. Hoseok immediately cut him off, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

“Go to sleep,” he murmured, closing his eyes again and pretending to feel sleepy, despite being wide awake and hyper aware of all of his surroundings. “You know, now. You promised you’d sleep.”

Hoseok could feel the way Kihyun smiled against his neck, when the smaller man shifted in his arms to be more comfortable; nestling his face into the crook of his neck.

He couldn’t help but mirror it when he let a curtain of slumber envelope him.

**Author's Note:**

> as per usual, you can find me on twitter @yuseokki! ;w;


End file.
